• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.2179-2183
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• 2016

Nitrilases pose attractive alternatives to the chemical hydrolysis of nitrile compounds. The activity of bacterial nitrilases towards substrate is intimately tied to the formation of large spiral-shaped oligomers. In the nitrilase CynD (cyanide dihydratase) from Bacillus pumilus, mutations in a predicted oligomeric surface region altered its oligomerization and reduced its activity. One mutant, CynD Y70C, retained uniform oligomer formation however it was inactive, unlike all other inactive mutants throughout that region all of which significantly perturbed oligomer formation. It was hypothesized that Y70 is playing an additional role necessary for CynD activity beyond influencing oligomerization. Here, we performed saturation mutagenesis at residue 70 and demonstrated that only tyrosine or phenylalanine is permissible for CynD activity. Furthermore, we show that other residues at this position are not only inactive, but have altered or disrupted oligomer conformations. These results suggest that Y70's essential role in activity is independent of its role in the formation of the spiral oligomer.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.262-267
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• 2006

Increased application of glyphosate (Gly) in glyphosate-resistant (GR) soybean cropping systems may affect rhizospheric microorganisms including IAA-producing rhizobacteria (IPR) and their effect on the growth of soybean. This field experiment was conducted to assess IPR populations in the rhizosphere of GR soybean ('Roundup-Ready' DeKalb DKB38-52) treated with glyphosate and foliar amendment treatments such as $PT21^{(R)}$ (urea solution with N 21 %) and $Grozyme^{(R)}$ (Biostimulant: mixtures of micro nutrients and enzymes). Effects of herbicide, sampling date, and their interaction on total bacterial numbers were significant (P < 0.001, 0.001, 0.013, respectively). Total bacteria (TB) numbers were increased with glyphosate treatment at 20 d after application and highest TB populations were associated with $Grozyme^{(R)}$ application, possibly due to the additional substrate from this product. The IPR of the soybean rhizosphere was significantly affected by herbicide, sampling date, and the herbicide*foliar amendment interaction. The ratios of numbers of IPR to TB ranged from 0.79 to 0.99 across the sampling dates irrespective of treatments. IPR numbers were slightly hindered by glyphosate application regardless of foliar amendment.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2018

This paper presents the analysis of friction master curves for a sliding elastomer on rough granite. The hysteresis friction is calculated using an analytical model that considers the energy spent during the local deformation of the rubber due to surface asperities. The adhesion friction is also considered for dry friction prediction. The viscoelastic modulus of the rubber compound and the large-strain effective modulus are obtained from dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). We accurately demonstrate the large strain of rubber that contacts with road substrate using the GW theory. We found that the rubber block deforms approximately to 40% strain. In addition, the viscoelastic master curve considering nonlinearity (at 40% strain) is derived based on the above finding. As viscoelasticity strongly depends on temperature, it can be assumed that the influence of velocity on friction is connected to the viscoelastic shift factors gained from DMA using the time-temperature superposition. In this study, we apply these shift factors to measure friction on dry granite over a velocity range for various temperatures. The measurements are compared to simulated hysteresis and adhesion friction using the Kluppel friction theory. Although friction results in the low-speed band match well with the simulation results, there are differences in the predicted and experimental results as the velocity increases. Thus, additional research is required for a more precise explanation of the viscoelastic material properties for better prediction of rubber friction characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.171-171
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• 2012

Neutral beam assisted chemical vapor deposition (NBa-CVD) process has been developed as a nove,l room temperature deposition process for the light-soaking free nano-crystalline silicon (nc-Si) thin films including intrinsic and n-type doped thin film. During formation of nc-Si thin films by the NBa-CVD process with silicon reflector at room temperature, the energetic particles enhance doping efficiency and crystalline phase in nc-Si thin films without additional heating at substrate. The effects of incident NB energy controlled by the reflector bias have been confirmed by Raman spectra analysis. Additionally, TEM images show uniform nc-Si grains which imbedded amorphous phase without incubation layer. The nc-Si films by the NBa-CVD are hardly degenerated by light soaking; the degradations of photoconductivity were just a few percents before and after light irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.131-131
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• 2012

We present our recent temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) study on catalytic reductions of $NO_x$ such as NO, $NO_2$, and $N_2O$ over rutile $TiO_2$(110) surfaces. Our results indicate that $NO_2$/NO readily reacts to give NO/$N_2O$ desorption at the substrate temperature as low as 100 K/70 K. Interestingly, $N_2O$, however, does not dissociate into $N_2$ and $O_{BBO}$ over the oxygen vacancy on the $TiO_2$(110) surface. Successive reduction of NO and $NO_2$ into $N_2O$ and NO, respectively, leaves oxygen atoms on the $TiO_2$(110) surface in a form of $O_{ad}$, which can induce additional reductive channels of NO and $NO_2$ at higher temperatures up to 400 K. During the repeated TPD cycles of $NO_x$, our x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicates that no N atom accumulates on the $TiO_2$ surface.

• Proceedings of the Microbiological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.163-163
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• 2008

Methylophaga aminisulfidivorans $MP^T$, a restricted facultative marine methylotrophic bacterium, was able to utilize methanol as a sole carbon and energy source, and possessed a methanol dehydrogenase (MDH) that is a key enzyme in the process of methanol oxidation. During purification of MDH, three types of MDH (MDH I, II, and III) were obtained in the cell free extracts from $MP^T$ cells grown on methanol. When analyzed by SDS-PAGE and ESI-FT ICR MS, MDH I was confirmed to consist of two subunits and with molecular masses of ~66 and ~10 kDa, respectively, in a form of ${\alpha}_2{\beta}_2$. While MDH II and MDH III contained an additional ~30 kDa protein, designated ${\gamma}$, in a form of ${\alpha}_2{\beta}_2{\gamma}$ and ${\alpha}_2{\beta}_2{\gamma}_2$, respectively. MDH III showed 1.5.2.0 times higher activity than MDH II, while MDH I remained the lowest activity. Based on these observations and experimental data, it seems that the original MDH conformation is ${\alpha}_2{\beta}_2{\gamma}2$ within $MP^T$ growing on methanol, and subunit ${\gamma}$ keeps MDH in an active form, and/or makes MDH easily bind to the substrate, methanol.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.363-372
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• 2020

Anionic radionuclides pose one of the highest risks to the long-term safety assessments of disposal repositories. Therefore, techniques to immobilize and separate such anionic radionuclides are of crucial importance from the viewpoints of safety and waste volume reduction. The main objective of this study is to design a separator with minimum pressure disturbance, based on the concept of a conventional cyclone separator. We hypothesize that the anionic radionuclides can be immobilized onto a nanomaterial-based substrate and that the particles generated in the process can flow via water. These particles are denser than water; hence, they can be trapped within the cyclone-type separator because of its design. We conducted particle tracking analysis using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the conventional cyclone separator and studied the effects due to the morphology of the separator. The proposed sandglass-like design of the separator shows promising results (i.e., only one out of 10,000 particles escaped to the outlet from the separation zone). To validate the design, we manufactured a laboratory-scale prototype separator and tested it for iron particles; the efficiency was ca. 99%. Furthermore, using an additional magnetic effect with the separator, we could effectively separate particles with ~100% efficiency. The proposed sandglass-like separator can thus be used for effective separation and recovery of immobilized anionic radionuclides.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.375-381
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• 2000

In this paper, we described the characterization of High-Tc Superconducting(HTS) microstrip antenna using non-radiating edge feeding technique and reported the microwave properties of HTS antennas with temperature. To do this, we prepared the $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x}$ superconducting thin film on MgO substrate using pulse-laser deposition techniques. The HTS microstrip antenna using non-radiating feeding technique was fabricated using chemical wet-etching. Then it was compared with identical antenna patterned with evaporated gold. The diverse measured results have been reported in terms of the input impedance, resonant frequency and return loss. In additional, at around the critical temperature, the effect of kinetic inductance which affect the resonant characteristic of the HTS microstrip antenna was reported.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2006

One of the critical issues in the coating specification is the allowable limit of surface contaminant(s) - such as soluble salt(s), grit dust, and rust - after grit blasting. Yet, there is no universally accepted data supporting the relationship between the long-term coating performance and the amount of various surface contaminants allowed after grit blasting. In this study, it was attempted to prepare epoxy coatings applied on grit-blasted steel substrate dosed with controlled amount of surface contaminants - such as soluble salt(s), grit dust, and rust. Then, coating samples were subjected to 4,200 hours of cyclic test(NORSOK M-501), which were then evaluated in terms of resistance to rust creepage, blistering, chalking, rusting, cracking and adhesion strength. Additional investigations on the possible damage at the paint/steel interface were carried out using an Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy(EIS) and observations of under-film-corrosion. Test results suggested that the current industrial specifications were well matched with the allowable degree of rust, whereas the allowable amount of soluble salt and grit dust after grit blasting showed a certain deviation from the specifications currently employed for fabrication of marine vessels and offshore facilities.

• Proceedings of the Korea Crystallographic Association Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.24-24
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• 2002

HtrA (high temperature requirement A), a periplasmic heat shock protein, is known to have molecular chaperone function at low temperatures and proteolytic activity at elevated temperatures. To investigate the mechanism of functional switch to pretense, we have determined the crystal structure of the N-terminal protease domain (PD) of HtrA from Thermotoga maritima. HtrA PD shares the same fold with chymotrypsin-like serine professes. However, crystal structure suggests that HtrA PD is not an active pretense at current state since its active site is not formed properly and blocked by an additional helical lid. On the surface of the lid, HtrA PD has hydrophobic patches that could be potential substrate binding sites for molecular chaperone activity. Present structure suggests that the activation of the proteolytic function of HtrA PD at elevated temperatures might occur by the conformational change.